Campaign Notebook

School Administrator Has Miles to Go Before Reaching U.S. Senate

On some level, most politicians consider themselves authorities on
education. After all, they’ve all been to school, right? But when
Mike Miles talks about the subject, he speaks from a little bit more
experience.

In fact, he’s still got a foot in the schoolhouse
door—as a district-level administrator—even as he’s
campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat from Colorado. Before that, the
Democratic hopeful was a teacher and middle school principal.

He has cut back his hours as an assistant superintendent
considerably as his campaign has heated up, but he’s still
working in that job for the 6,000-student Fountain-Fort Carson
district, near Colorado Springs, 20 percent of the time.

"Running for office is a bit of work," he said in a recent
interview.

Mr. Miles, 47, faces tough odds in his Senate bid. He’s up
against state Attorney General Ken Salazar, a much better-known and
better- financed opponent, in the Aug. 10 Democratic primary.

"I think he’s an underdog by a substantial margin, but this
isn’t going to be a 10-to-1 blowout," said John Straayer, a
political science professor at Colorado State University in Fort
Collins, Colo. "He’s run an extraordinarily good campaign,
especially given the fact that the Democratic Party establishment never
really took him seriously."

Mr. Miles, who was a U.S. Army ranger and a diplomat in Poland and
Russia before becoming an educator, began campaigning long before Mr.
Salazar jumped into the race earlier this year. The attorney general
decided to run after Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell
unexpectedly announced he would retire at the end of his term.

Mr. Miles said his top three campaign issues, in order, are: health
care, foreign policy, and education.

He backs a single-payer system of universal health care and opposed
the war in Iraq.

On school issues, he’s lambasted the No Child Left Behind
Act.

"There’s absolutely no question in my mind that No Child Left
Behind is bad legislation," he said, maintaining that his stance is not
a simple knee-jerk reaction. He argues, for instance, that the law is
based on the "false premise" that schools "have 100 percent control
over the academic proficiency of a child." He also criticizes the way
the law measures schools.

But Mr. Miles said be believes in accountability, and notes that
student achievement improved considerably when he was the principal of
a middle school in his district for four years.

"No one can say I’m afraid of accountability," he said. "I
know how to raise student achievement, and it ain’t with vouchers
and No Child Left Behind."

If elected, he promises, he will work to repeal the federal law.

"As a senator, I would make sure that my colleagues get educated on
this subject, because they certainly don’t know what the heck
they’re doing," he said.

Mr. Miles is also proposing new measures to recruit and retain
high-quality teachers.

A staunch opponent of school vouchers, he notes that Mr. Salazar has
backed vouchers on a pilot basis.

But Mr. Miles’ education career and stance on the issues
haven’t been enough to win support from the Colorado Education
Association. The union is backing Mr. Salazar.

"He’s a proven candidate and a friend of the Colorado
Education Association," said Deborah Fallin, a spokeswoman for the
37,000- member affiliate of the National Education Association. "The
decision was not anti-Mike Miles, it was just pro-Ken Salazar."

Graduation Speech

President Bush says that elementary schools are improving because of
the work accomplished during his term.

If he gets a second term, he would aim to improve high schools.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, states are working to ensure
that every student is proficient in reading and mathematics. Under the
law’s reading program, schools are also improving instruction to
ensure that 3rd graders are capable readers, Mr. Bush said in a July 21
speech in Washington that covered his second-term goals in foreign and
domestic policy.

"Now we must move forward and make certain that our high schools are
doing their jobs, as well," he said at the fund- raiser for Republican
congressional candidates. "Every high school diploma must mean that our
graduates are prepared for jobs, for college, and for success."

The president did not outline the role the federal government would
play in making that happen.

—Erik W. Robelen & David J. Hoff

Vol. 23, Issue 43, Page 22

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